Books
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A piece on one of my favorite books (and the funniest I've ever read) came up on my Facebook feed this morning, and it linked to a pretty good review of A Confederacy of Dunces.
The main character, Ignatius Reilly, is spleen-rupturingly hilarious. He fancies himself a medieval soul trapped in an age of abomination. The scenes that Toole paints of New Orleans are reverent and real.
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'The Free' by Willy Vlautin, a healthy dose of American Reality (rather than Dream). Highly readable and recommended.
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I love this book and I know quite a few real life Ignatiuses. If I ever visit NO I'd have to wear a hunting hat.*
I gave it as a birthday gift to a friend of mine. he looked confused, and as he flipped through the pages said; "there's a lot of words isn't there?" - sigh…..*with earflaps of course
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just started reading seriously this year. so far this year i've read:
1Q84 - Murakami (first half awesome, 2nd sucked)
Norwegian Wood - Murakami (was pretty good, but defeinitely would have liked it better had i read it when i was 20)
Slaughterhouse 5 - Vonnegut (loved it, one of my favorites)
Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut (hated it)
The Rum Diary - Hunter S Thompson (loved it, one of my favorites)
Inherent Vice - Thomas Pynchon (funny, but didnt get the point of the book and was very confusing)
Reign In Blood - DX Ferris (wasnt well written, but learned a lot about Def Jam, Rick Rubin and Slayer \m/)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (jesus…)finishing up Fear and Loathing right now
hahaha thats lite reading in the world of cormac mccarthy
wait until you try and take on blood meridian hahahachallenge accepted. i just have to get through the rest of fear and loathing on the campaign trail 72. didnt much care for fear and loathing in las vegas… but i dont have any experience with hallucinogenic drugs so i couldnt relate
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Reviving this old thread because I just ordered this book that I learned about from the Heddels Instagram account:
I was trying to explain my affinity for Japanese-made denim to a friend and as I was telling him that Japanese brands were making incredible vintage American-style workwear, he asked why. I really didn't have an answer. Maybe I will after reading this.
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I have it incoming too…..
Btw, book tip for anyone who loves Japan. "The Roads To Sata" by Alan Booth, it's written by an English man who lived in Japan and walked from from the Northern tip of Hokkaido down to the Southern tip of Kyushu. Great read.
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Kinda early to say. So far, it focuses less on the workwear segment of men's clothing (which is what I sort of assumed it would cover) and more on the broader concept of creating a sense of fashion for men and a consumer culture in post-war Japan. It's examined a couple of trends in the 50s and 60s and how they reflected broader cultural changes, which is interesting, but not exactly what I expected.
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I just read the GQ interview with the author of Ametora, and he talks about the importance of the brand "A Bathing Ape". It always annoys me when people downplay or mock the influence of Bape on everything we love about Japanese clothing, it wasn't always camo hoodies and Nike rip offs.
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Does the author elaborate on the brands importance?
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He says that a lot of things started with Bathing Ape when referencing Japanese clothing impacting popular American culture.
Most folks just remember camo and Kanye, but that all came years after Bathing Ape started to impact popular culture.
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Unfortunately the author (in that instance) seems to be referencing the Kanye years, the early 2000's, when BAPE opened in NY.
You sparked my interest for a moment there, thinking he would elaborate on the influences American culture had on NIGO in the early 90's and then the subsequent influence BAPE had in America…
Perhaps he will touch on that in the book.
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These days BAPE is all about gold Rolexes…
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thinking he would elaborate on the influences American culture had on NIGO in the early 90's and then the subsequent influence BAPE had in America…
Perhaps he will touch on that in the book.
He did. Bape was covered largely to show the rise of natively developed Japanese fashion influence, both domestically and globally. It marked a change in that Japanese fashion was developed with no significant basis in American or European fashion, (unlike most previous American rooted trends) and intended for Japanese consumers (unlike previous Japanese designers like Miyake and Yamamoto, who hit first in Europe).
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im in japan, reckon i could find that anywhere?
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I just have fond memories of the old days when the first UK exposure to Bape was through Ian Brown and UNKLE. Back then Bape, Wtaps and Neighborhood were making really cool street wear…..then Kanye happened and Nigo went a bit nuts.
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Thanks, @Chris!
I can now see what you mean when you say not what you expected…
Do you think the book covers too broad a scope?
